


Waiting on the Wire

by auselysium



Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Angst, M/M, also a bit of book canon so whatever, flangst, movie canon divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 00:26:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14842076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auselysium/pseuds/auselysium
Summary: Written for the CMBYN Heart Eyes Challenge using the prompts: ringing/phone call.The continuation of Elio and Oliver's phone call at the end of the movie.





	Waiting on the Wire

_Oliver… I remember everything._

Thousands of miles of telephone cables running along the floor of the Atlantic.   Automated switchboards in White Plains, NY and inflated international fees and Alexander Graham Bell and Galileo and the development of farming and the whole fucking universe exploding into existence all so Elio could press a smile into the phone receiver and breathe for the first time in months.

“Elio? You still there?”

Oliver voice has gone up in pitch, a major third, anxious.  

More than  _I miss you too, very much_ , more than _I might be getting married next spring, yeah_ , this last profession has revealed the most.

Elio sits up higher in his chair, hooking his ankles.

“I’m here.”

“Good. I thought I might have lost you for a minute.”

“Never.”

Oliver’s silence infers his subtextual understanding.

“What’s her name?”  Elio asks.  It is not a kind question.

“Elio- don’t I…”

“Just tell me.  Please.”

The distinctive hiss of a long distance call stretches with excruciating hesitation.  Finally there is a heavy inhale.

“Her name is Beth.  I’ve known her since we were kids.  I asked her just last week.  I haven’t even bought her a ring yet.”

“You must love her tremendously.”

Elio speaks with a sarcasm that is thought not voiced but heard nonetheless by he who is the other half of some fractured whole.  

“I can’t imagine knowing with such certainty that I’d like a whole life with someone.”

“Can’t you though?”

The question is too quick.  

“Later.  Maybe.”

A gentle laugh through Oliver’s nose.  Bless the technology that carries that soft sound all way from New York to his ears.

“I suppose you are only 17.”

“18.”

“What?”  

“I’m 18.”

“I didn’t…”  

Breathless, mortified, glassy-eyed.   “When?”

How could Oliver not know such an essential fact, when he knows so much more?

“November 13th.”  

“Next year.  I’ll send you a card.  Promise.”

“Next year you’ll be writing to tell me you’re having a baby.”

The line returns to brutal static.  Each second costs them.  10 cents, 20, 30, years of an already regretted future.

“I mind.” Elio breaks the silence.  “God, Oliver, of course I mind.”

A log pops in the fireplace.  His parents steer clear, knowing and yet have no idea.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Why?”  Elio shrugs.  It’s a useless gesture.  “It doesn’t matter, does it? It won’t change anything.  You’re still going to marry her.”

“Of course it matters.  It’s won’t change what’s going to happen but it matters more than you can possibly know.  Whatever you felt, Elio, whatever you feel.  I did too.   _I do_.”

There is a quiver to his voice that has nothing to do with the quality of their connection.  It results in a lump in Elio’s throat.  A surge in his chest.  

“Could I give you a ring sometime?”  He asks.

There is a secret code being created and deciphered instantaneously.  Oliver teases the process. 

“A ring?”

 Elio smiles wider.  It hurts, but it also feels like healing.

“A phone call, you goose.”

Oliver’s word.  Elio’s mouth.  Is there anything more natural?

“To talk?”

 _To not lose you,_  Elio thinks but hums an affirmative instead.

“Whatever.  Whenever.  I’ll be waiting.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was conceived and written all within a matter of hours. 
> 
> I did do some research about over-seas calling. White Plains, NY was one of the first switchboard stations in the US able to call London. There was a constant hiss (which you can hear in the movie, good job Luca) on overseas calls to ensure that the line stayed open and connected. Data always needed to be threaded through, so phone companies added the hiss.
> 
> The idea of Oliver not knowing Elio's birthday kind of gutted me. But it comes from a relationship I had where we were obviously falling for each other VERY quickly, where it felt like I'd known him my whole life even after a few days, where we literally had to stop and be like: "Ok, when is your birthday? What is your favorite color?" those basics. Oliver and Elio obviously never stopped for that.
> 
> Oh and there is Oliver's wife again...another fic another name. lol
> 
> Join me on tumblr: auselysium over there too!


End file.
